I eat cheese. I drink beer, wine, and coffee. I hate carob and squash. Um, what else? Well loads really, but it will all come out in good time! There, I said it. The raw food gods haven’t struck me down, so I guess I’ll be ok.

So why the need to confess? I suppose because of the fact that I have a business centered on raw food (I am a raw foods personal chef in the Chicago area) I feel that I need to be a “perfect” raw foodist, whatever that may be. But you know what- no one is perfect and there is no one person who has all the answers about what’s good or bad for you. What works for one person, doesn’t necessarily work for another. I just hope that people can appreciate my non-fanatical view on things.

I can’t ever be 100% raw, nor do I strive to be. You know how when someone tells you that you can’t have something and then all you want is what you can’t have? That’s what happens to me when I try to be 100% raw. I just start obsessing about all the things that I can’t eat until I give in. Then comes the guilt. If you think about it, that’ crazy. That’s no way to live. That’s why diets don’t work. I don’t want what I eat to rule my entire life. That’s unhealthy. So I just do the best that I can while enjoying some of the best food ever.

Living in Chicago and being “Raw” certainly has its challenges. We seem to be a bit behind California and New York in that respect. It’s a very “meat and potatoes” mentality here. There are only two raw food restaurants here- Karyn’ and Cousin’s Vitality and neither one is close to me. Whole Foods doesn’t carry any pre-made raw meals or anything like that. We’re lucky to be able to buy goji berries and raw cacao nibs at a few health food stores around the area. Without any conveniences, it’s hard to stay raw.

I guess that’s one of the reasons I started my personal chef business. Besides that fact that I love working with food, I think there are a lot of people out there who want to be healthier but maybe just don’t know how to go about it or don’t have the time to put any effort into it. I also want to prove to people that vegetarian food, especially raw food, tastes amazing and that it’s not all about tofu! Argh! And when I say raw food, I don’t mean sushi! If I had a dime for every time someone said that to me, I’d be rich.